Family CEOs may be thinking more seriously about retirement as the recent dramatic changes in their lives and businesses continue to unfold. What should be the next step? Is keeping the business in the family the right decision? Does it make more sense to sell to a new owner who has a different, and potentially more futuristic vision; one that could transform the business and expose previously hidden opportunities that are emerging in the New Reality?
The Successful Transgenerational Entrepreneurship Practices (STEP) Project 2019 Global Family Business Survey (PDF 20 MB), planned and developed through a strategic alliance with KPMG Private Enterprise, asked survey participants, pre-COVID-19, about succession planning and their emergency succession plans in case the unexpected should happen. Because the unexpected did happen, follow-up interviews with family business leaders were conducted in the late spring and early summer of 2020 to determine how COVID-19 might have affected their views on succession planning and governance.
Having experienced the direct impact of an unexpected health crisis, some of these family CEOs were directly exposed to the value of having a leadership contingency plan in place. This experience had led them to further consider and accelerate longer-term succession planning to ensure that their businesses will continue to be well-navigated.